An Overview of Continuing Legal Education (CLE)

Interviewer: What is CLE? Please elaborate a bit on that.

Eric Sachs: A CLE is Continuing Legal Education, for which I was one of the instructors. On Wednesday night, July 10th, I was an instructor at the Nassau County Legal Aid Society, where two hours were spent explaining how the Intoxilyzer 5000 and the Intoxilyzer 5000EN work and how to attack it.

Then on Thursday, July 11th I was one of four instructors who gave an all-day continuing legal education seminar called Man Versus Machine, Part 3, where we did and we instructed 90 lawyers and attendants how to try a DWI case from beginning to end. We picked a jury. We actually had a jury pool. We picked a jury. We tried the case with openings, direct, cross-examination of the arresting officer.

CLE Seminars Help to Keep Attorneys In Line With Latest Techniques and Methodologies Employed By the Criminal Justice System

There was a defense expert witness with direct and cross-examination. There were summations. There was an actual judge who gave a jury charge, and there were jury deliberations. The jury room was set up with closed circuit television and audio, and the attendees got an opportunity as well as the instructors, had a chance to actually listen to and watch the jury deliberate and some of the questions that a jury would ask and some of the things that a jury would do on the trial of a DWI case.

Interviewer: How long are the CLEs as far as, how long are the lectures?

Eric Sachs: The lecture on Wednesday night was two hours and the class on Thursday was nine hours, a full day.Some lectures go on for a series of two or three days, but these two lectures, just like I said, one was after work, which was two hours, and the other one, the participants got eight and a half hours of Continuing Legal Education credit.

CLE is anOngoing Process Facilitated by the Legal Aid Society in Nassau County

Interviewer: Do you think you’ll be doing something like that anytime in the near future?

Eric Sachs: Yes, I’ve been asked by the Legal Aid Society in Nassau County to come back and teach them techniques on cross-examination. I’m going to give them the opportunity if they’d like to pick a specific topic as to do they want to cross-examine the arresting officer in the field sobriety tests or the arresting officer on the stop. We’re going to try and narrow down the topic more specifically to what they’d like. Man Versus Machine Part 4 will be next year. That’s already scheduled.